Almighty painter

Chapter 1058 Turning stone into gold
Hunter Bull stood before the enormous oil painting that almost covered the entire wall.

"The Human Comedy"—

More than ten years ago.

In Marina Bay, Gu Weijing once painted a work called "Human Noise," an Impressionist oil painting that was the stepping stone for him to enter the eyes of critics for the first time. Many critics learned about the existence of the young painter "Gu Weijing" for the first time through "Human Noise."

It truly lives up to its name as a career retrospective exhibition.

This painting, "Human Comedy," seems to be the artist's reflection on his career over the past decade, a response from himself, standing in the Hamburg pavilion many years later, to the self who stood in the Singapore pavilion many years ago.

This is an Impressionist oil painting, and its name comes from Balzac's collection of short stories, "The Human Comedy".

Critics have long noticed that Gu Weijing and Anna Elena, the collaborators, both have a very special fondness for Balzac.

The appearance of this painting undoubtedly confirms this conjecture once again.

This is not the first time Gu Weijing has chosen a classic literary work as the name of his personal painting. "The Peach Blossom Fan," "A Tale of Two Cities," and even his previous painting of "The Magic Flute," which fetched a record price, share the same name as Mozart's last opera.

And the most important work in Gu Weijing's career, the one that won him the highest honor—

The painters chose to name it after their beloved Balzac.

The Human Comedy is an extremely grand collection of works, exceeding ten million words, containing 91 novels, 2300 different characters, three different main parts, and nearly ten different life scenes. If these 91 novels with interwoven characters are regarded as a complete story, then it may even be the most magnificent collection of novels in the entire history of French classical literature.

This is the largest oil painting Gu Weijing ever created, and it also deserves the description of "magnificent".

It showcases to the viewer a style of brushwork that is extremely ornate and refined.

Let's imagine.

When people gaze at the night sky, the stars are vast, and each twinkling point in the distant sky is a viscous galaxy. And you reach out, grab a handful of such shimmering grains of sand, and spread them on the canvas before you.

What Gu Weijing presents on the canvas is the ultimate art of painting.

Four seasons, wind and snow, time, youth, aging, the pyramids of Egypt, cat hair fluttering by the window frame... countless images are interwoven on the canvas, like stars among stars, galaxies among galaxies. Those delicate, rough, graceful, and unrestrained brushstrokes, capturing the spirit through form and the action through spirit, are layered on the canvas.

The random combination of colors and brushstrokes creates a magnificent scene.

By randomly selecting a few colors and brushstrokes, and connecting them together, a unique landscape can be created, much like using a paintbrush to connect stars in the night sky and combine them into a new galaxy. A hundred, a thousand, a million, or even ten million such magnificent brushstrokes together constitute this painting, which is over three meters long.

Title: The Human Comedy

【素描技法：Lv.8大师二阶（621，0980/10，000，000）】

【油画技法：Lv.8大师二阶（713，3120/10，000，000）】

[Emotions: A Masterful Stroke of the Pen]

"...Gu Weijing's use of color in this painting is very rich. You can see both the dark color schemes of the artist's early years and many dreamy, joyful uses of color... This is a very distinctive characteristic of the painter's work... Anna Elena once told the media that many times when you see this painting, 'The Human Comedy,' you will understand the moment that it is a work that only a painter like Gu Weijing could create..."

"Like Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam."

"In this era, there is no painter who can paint as well as Gu Weijing..."

The Kunsthaus Zurich attaches great importance to this retrospective exhibition of Gu Weijing's career. Picasso completely conquered the European critics with his retrospective exhibition in Switzerland.

And what about Gu Weijing?

He already owned shares in the magazine "Oil Painting," and he no longer needed to prove anything through exhibitions like this.

In contrast to Picasso.

He first conquered the European critical acclaim before holding this retrospective exhibition. This exhibition is merely a summary of Gu Weijing's miraculous year, a perfect ending to his perfect year.

The art museum provides free guided tours in its exhibition halls.

The hooded old man listened to the lively English explanations coming from not far away.

"Hey!"

Hunter Bull raised his hand like a schoolboy wanting to answer a question from his teacher and called out softly.

Several people who were standing nearby in the exhibition hall stopped and looked at him with strange eyes.

"Hey!"

Hunter Bull raised his voice, shaking his arms vigorously and shouting.

More tourists stopped, the guides stopped explaining, and everyone in the museum stopped visiting, staring at this person who seemed to have suddenly gone mad.

"Sir, hello sir, could you please refrain from making loud noises inside the art museum?"

The guide wasn't shaken over by Hunter Bull; instead, the museum's security guard was shaken over first and stopped him.

"Give me an easel. A set of oil paints, a 42-color paint set, a 12-inch by 16-inch canvas, with a white undercoat, or you can use acrylic paint directly..."

The old man stared at the wall, looking like he was muttering to himself.

"Sir, if you continue like this, I will have to ask you to leave—"

The security guard ignored all the nonsense and said with a frown.

Did you bring your phone?

Boole turned his head.

"Could I borrow your phone for a moment?" Bool said again.

The security guard was getting impatient, but for some reason, stared at by those deep-set eyes, he hesitated for a moment before taking out his phone.

The old man who looked like a lunatic took the phone.

He took off his hood, snapped a selfie, then opened his browser and typed in the name "Hunter Bower".

He returned the phone to the security guard.

"Now, you can choose to kick me out, or you can choose to find your supervisor, show him this photo, and tell him my demands."

Hunter Bull thought for a moment.

he added.

"Oh, and a lighter and an ashtray."
-
Manhattan, New York.

The iconic building on Wall Street.

The rooftop garden restaurant on the 63rd floor.

"Have you noticed those people at the table across the way?"

A legal assistant from Europe on the team whispered to her colleague, "I've always been curious why so many of these Americans wear the exact same striped ties. Are they all bought in bulk?"

"Oh, that means they're all Harvard graduates."

Gu Weijing stood by the window, gazing at the bustling Wall Street below. To welcome the upcoming Christmas holiday, three-meter-tall Christmas trees, decorated with colorful ribbons and glowing lights, had been placed on the revolving doors of Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch below.

of course.

Money never sleeps.

Even if it's just close to the Christmas holidays, or even on Christmas Day itself, as long as there's good business to be done, the air will still be filled with the scent of money.

"That's the hallmark of Harvard, the quintessential Golden Boy. The Harvard Golden Boy is a gold standard in the American legal and financial circles."

Gu Weijing heard his question and answered casually.

"Golden Boy?"

The intern sighed.

He discovered that the famous "Mr. Gu" wasn't as unapproachable as he had imagined. He walked over, mustered his courage, and cautiously asked, "Could you please sign your name for me?"

Gu Weijing took out a fountain pen.

"Napkins? Seriously."

The painter looked down at it.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, I... I didn't bring any other paper with me, so..."

"It's nothing. It's just that the pen is a little hard to write with."

"It took me a long time to figure out when to wear a black tie, when to wear a bow tie, and when to wear Oxford shoes. There are so many complicated things!" The intern looked at the Harvard prodigy and felt a little inferior.

Gu Weijing smiled, quickly signed his name on the tissue, and handed it back. "That's because you haven't seen Anna's amazing skill of recognizing a woman by her scent. That's truly complex."

The artist himself seemed to be in a good mood, as he spoke to the intern.

"Can you tell a woman's identity by her scent?"

“Sometimes, she can tell a person’s background just by hearing their name. I still don’t quite understand how she does it.”

Gu Weijing smiled and shook his head to explain.

It's truly amazing.

Gu Weijing had attended some aristocratic social gatherings. During the conversation, someone mentioned a completely unfamiliar name, even if everyone was speaking English and you had never met her before.

But Anna could still immediately "recognize" whether the person being mentioned was French, British, or German, and roughly which lineage or branch they belonged to.

Compared to ears like those, recognizing someone as a Harvard graduate by their tie is hardly a remarkable feat.

"You could also call him a man who can hear a furry man's voice or something, he's incredibly accurate, like a crystal ball magic."

"For example, Baron Newland Olinska—"

Gu Weijing turned to Miss Elena and asked, "Where is he from?"

"Olinska?"

The woman at the table was looking down at her phone and said seriously, "It sounds like a name from Western or Northern Europe. I know there used to be a family called the Olinska in France, which later had a marriage alliance with the family of French Field Marshal Bernadotte, who went to Sweden and became king..."

Gu Weijing spread his hands toward the intern beside him.

“However—” he opened his mouth.

“However, all of that was made up by me.” Miss Elena directly anticipated Gu Weijing’s prediction and interrupted him without even looking up.

"What do you mean Bernardo Thérèse is made up?"

“No, the current King of Sweden is indeed of Bernardo d'Or lineage. But Nuland Olinska is the kitchen helper in this restaurant today,” the woman said calmly. “I also saw the restaurant advertisement on the wall when I was in the elevator.”

Gu Weijing couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Stop making these pointless jokes," Anna commented. "I'm warning you, I'm really annoyed lately."

The woman across the table looked down at the message from the veterinarian on her phone. Seven years had passed, and August was now an extremely old dog.

these days.

It looked sickly.

Miss Elena was like a tightly wound clock, ticking away, constantly worried about her health.

"Okay, okay, it's just a little cold, it'll be fine, don't worry."

Gu Weijing went over and comforted him.

The interns, witnessing this scene, felt even more envious.

Today, Gu Weijing booked this Michelin-starred restaurant for a private banquet for his team, which can be considered both a victory celebration and a pep rally.

Gu Weijing's private team has just signed a contract with a well-known law firm in New York. The firm will handle the upcoming litigation and countersuit against the magazine "Oil Painting". This level of litigation is protracted and cannot be resolved in a week or two, or even a month or two. The legal fees for each side alone can easily burn through tens of millions of dollars.

But it's okay.

They are full of confidence.

Moreover, Gu Weijing is a painter, and in terms of so-called "art" itself, he has accomplished everything he could.

He has already defeated the magazine *Oil Painting*, and the remaining battle has transformed from an art war into a legal one. Leave the professional work to the professionals. As the famous saying goes, fight hard for what you can change, and accept what you cannot.

Gu Weijing looked very relaxed.

He was dressed in a casual suit and comfortable leather shoes, without a tie or bow tie. Yet, he was still the most eye-catching person in the room.

His dashing charm and widespread acclaim far surpassed those fully-equipped Wall Street golden boys. These individuals already belonged to the top 0.1% of income earners in the United States; they could afford fine dining and luxury sports cars—the elite among the elite.

However, most of these people may not be able to afford a single painting by Gu Weijing with their lifetime income. Even if they become senior partners in a law firm with an annual salary of over $100 million, it would still take them ten years' worth of income.

in other words.

He has the right to be so relaxed; only laborers need a tie that symbolizes status to prove their worth.

Anyone whose painting can sell for 2000 million is a man who shines even brighter than these golden boys.

Anna Elena is the agent for whom?

He doesn't need any tie to prove who he is.

Gu Weijing raised a glass of liqueur, about to say something to everyone in the restaurant, when his phone rang.

At the same moment.

Miss Elena's phone rang while she was talking to the veterinarian.
-
Generally speaking, in order to ensure normal visiting order, top museums such as the Louvre or the Kunstmuseum Zurich will not allow art students to set up an easel and make sketches on the spot without special application.

Even if there are special applications.

Art museums are unlikely to provide you with oil painting supplies.

A fantasy, a fool's dream.

Oh shit.

Who are you? What do you think you are?

Ok.

Since you're called "Hunter Bull," then you're the boss, everything you say is right, and whatever you say goes.

The security guard, phone in hand, found the security manager, who in turn, phone in hand, contacted the education director in charge of operations and public projects, who in turn, phone in hand, contacted the curatorial director…

Within five minutes.

The deputy director of the Zurich Art Museum, phone in hand, teleported in front of Huntsman. The reason the deputy director was the one on leave was that the director was currently on holiday, his teleportation ability was on cooldown, and he was rushing over with his phone in his mouth.

"Mr. Bull, it's an honor."

now.

A large crowd had already gathered around Hunter Bull. The deputy curator pushed through the crowd with all his might and, sure enough, saw someone who looked somewhat familiar.

It probably doesn't look that familiar.

If this were thirty years ago, then without a doubt, Hunter Bull would have been the most sought-after figure in the entire art world.

But people's enthusiasm is finite, and so is public memory; almost a whole generation has passed. People's memories of the former "Elvis" are gradually fading. The moment Hunter Bull reappeared at the art convention truly caused a huge stir in the entire collecting and critical world.

The level of discussion surrounding Hunter Bull is no less than, and perhaps even greater than, Miss Elena's speech and the decision to establish a family museum.

after all.

It's not uncommon in history for super-rich families to announce the donation of an art museum or something similar.

Elvis Presley's death was a real event.

But as the saying goes, people's enthusiasm is limited, and the public's memory is also limited.

New trending topics emerge every moment.

Even if Elvis Presley is eventually forgotten, today's young Americans certainly know who he is, but they no longer listen to his songs. The most popular artists on Apple Music's charts are Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.

Even people with a more retro taste might listen to the Beatles, the Queen, or Michael Jackson, but it's rare for them to go so far as to listen to Elvis Presley.

If Hunter Bull were Elvis.

So Gu Weijing is the new generation's superstar, and he has already been replaced.

It may sound a little cruel, but that's the truth. Most people will be forgotten. During the Renaissance, there were many painters who were popular in Venice, not just Titian, Bellini, or Giorgione, and Rembrandt was not the only one admired by the Dutch.

People always forget that only a very small minority can endure as long as gold.

Perhaps in an entire century, there will only be one or two such individuals.

(End of this chapter)